Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Stake Reduced by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance decreased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 141,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,430 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $932,000. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 97.5% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 35,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 17,499 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 10.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 195,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,510,000 after purchasing an additional 18,482 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at $27,613,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 91,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,948,000 after buying an additional 11,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America cut their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE MO opened at $56.73 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $56.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.73. The company has a market capitalization of $96.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.